Happy Feet
Written by Warren Coleman & John Collee & George Miller & Judy Morris
Directed by George Miller
Warner Bros.
2006
Rating:


"Happy Feet" has a lot on its conceptual plate for an animated children's movie. The latest film to capitalize on the success of "March of the Penguins" (although certainly not the last), "Happy Feet" follows the adventures of Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood), an Emperor Penguin ostracized because he dances instead of sings to attract a mate and who has yet to lose his childish feathers. Noah the Elder (Hugo Weaving) echoes Pat Robertson's explanation for Hurricane Katrina when he says Mumble's dancing (symbolic of homosexuality) and his feathers (representing non-whiteness) has angered the gods and caused the recent fishing shortage. Mumble later discovers the lack of fish is man-made and the U.N. even convenes to discuss over-fishing in the Antarctic. While attempting to figure out how he can properly woo his childhood friend Gloria (Brittany Murphy), Mumble meets Ramσn (Robin Williams) and his pack of Latino penguins. The immigration of these penguins has also raised the ire of Noah, whose distaste for the immigrant penguins' "backsliding" feels tantamount to calling them "wetbacks." "Happy Feet" indulges in post-modern tomfoolery when the penguins sing Prince, Elvis and Grandmaster Flash to express their "Heart Song" and the voice casting of Williams as an Hispanic penguin and the Barry White-like sage Lovelace undermines the story's acceptance lesson. But one has to be impressed by the depth of subtext on display here, as it tackles subject matter that even adult movies have been afraid to undertake.

Posted Saturday, January 20, 2007

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/film/happy.feet